Le Sequana

Design of two "New Office" administrative buildings

Concept

The project creates two separate cores, like non-identical twins, connected around a shady courtyard offering access to the buildings. A low-lying central garden, accessible from the buildings, is among the communal areas created, which also include the inter-company restaurant, cafeteria, club restaurants and sports centre.

In compliance with policies favouring the environmental and quality of life, the objective of the Sequana project was to focus on the user’s quality of life and to enhance his working environment.

This approach is applied by the Capital & Continental team, with their “The New Office” concept, which has already been used in various projects in recent years.

Dr Frank Duffy, a world-wide expert in the service sector, has been a close collaborator in the development of this innovative concept, whose technical specifications anticipate constant changes in the future use of the premises, both in terms of sustainable development and in the efficiency and flexibility of layout.

Program

The building geometry comprises two buildings that are separate in terms of superstructure, but share a common foundation over two underground storeys. This building is intended for luxury office use. The strict requirement of the project owner was to create office areas without columns, allowing for large open-space office platforms.

From a commercial point of view, this also offers maximal flexibility in terms of layout. Another requirement, related to the presence of large areas, was to raise the ceiling height to 2.85m, in order to allow as much natural light as possible into the work areas.

In compliance with the “New Office” programme, the superstructure is built around a metal framework. The beam spans for this project are up to 18m.